An operation unit for receiving an input from the user is used in an entertainment unit such as a TV game unit. By operating this operation unit, the user operates player characters displayed on the display screen of the display unit connected to the entertainment unit. As for such operation units, a game controller with direction keys and operation buttons and an analog joy stick having an operation axis etc., for example, are cited. In addition, in recent years, a game controller or the like on which an analog joy stick with an operation lever is mounted have appeared and, therefore, it has become possible for the user to enjoy a variety of games with one game controller.
In the case that a game is executed in a conventional entertainment unit, the operation lever of the analog joy stick is usually used for moving player characters on the display screen and the operation buttons are used for making the player characters on the display screen and starting predetermined actions, such as strength recovery and an attack against the opponents, in a fight game. Then, the evaluation values with respect to the actions of the player characters, such as the extent of strength recovery of the player characters or the extent of the influence of the attack upon the opponent, are usually determined in accordance with the number of hits in a row of the operation button allocated for the action.
The present invention relates to a technology for effectively utilizing signals outputted from an operation unit with an operation lever such as a joy stick in an entertainment unit. It is an object of the present invention to utilize the operation unit having an operation axis as an input unit of the entertainment unit in a more effective way.
To accomplish the object, according to the present invention, the entertainment unit which receives input information from the operation unit calculates a variable relating to a rotation movement of the operation lever around a preset standard axis based on position information of the operation lever included in the input information from the above described operation unit and changes the display conditions of the objects based on the variable.
Moreover, according to an entertainment unit with respect to another mode of the present invention, the first parameter is set based on the tilt angle of the operation lever created by the user""s action which tilts the operation lever of the operation unit and the second parameter is set in accordance with the angle of rotation or the angular velocity of rotation of the operation lever by the user""s action which rotates the operation lever of the operation unit. Then, based on the set value of the first parameter and the set value of the second parameter, an evaluation value for the operation object is set. In this case, when either one of the set values of the first or the second parameters exceeds a threshold value an alternation of the evaluation value of the player character, for example clearing, may arise.